1.x AI Faction Progression Thread

[jhhowell]

Ive never seen anything like this... which version of RTW are you running?

RTW 1.5, EB 1.0 (though I can't imagine this would depend on anything in EB, as Mediolanicus sees the same thing in 1.1, above). Maybe it's less common with BI.exe with the AI spending money on ships to allow naval invasions. It may also depend on how far into your campaign you are - I see regular bribery in 200 BCE, and thinking back I think I first noticed the Bactrian bribes in Asia Minor around the 240s.

Might be interesting to spawn a Casse diplomat or two in northern Gaul - they're usually an absurdly rich faction, maybe some bribed armies would get them to do something on the continent.

[Mediolanicus]

I play with BI and so far I've seen a Baktrian stack in Asia Minor and a Roman stack in Trace, both certainly bribed.

[Nobo]

I'm playing on Alexander, but maybe it's been happening and I just never noticed it. I'll keep my eyes open

[Tyrfingr]

I have seen bribed armies almost everywhere. Pontic armies in India, Ptolemaic armies in Gaul etc.

Talking about dislocated armies. When I conquered Iberia in my Roman campaign from the carthaginians and the Lusotana, one half-stacked army (simple freed slaves and some spear leevies) of the carthaginians got sad with the loss of Gader and started to walk northwest.

I thought they were going to attack my poorly garrisoned italian cities, but it turned out that they were (in the AIs mind) to weak to attack anything so they started the long journey for Carthage (or at least carthaginian land)...on foot! Last time I checked, they had just defeated a rebel ambush just south of Sardis, got a heroic victory which made their captain a family member and they have just now passed Antioch. Meanwhile, Carthage have expanded and currently holds Egypt so they will be home soon...

[Roy1991]

Hayasdan, 188BC

I have question for you..

did you menage march of time reform??

did your bodyguards change??

sorry for my bad English

Yeah, I got the upgraded bodyguards.
Not sure whether the March of Time caused them though, I thought only the Romani could trigger that event?
The Epirotes kicked them out of Italy a long time ago

[Ayce]

Roy: I like what Carthage has done in your game, I thought you were playing them and Hayasdan made an abnormal AI expansion, until I saw the title.

[Roy1991]

Roy: I like what Carthage has done in your game, I thought you were playing them and Hayasdan made an abnormal AI expansion, until I saw the title.

Yeah, some surprising AI progress in this game. I don't remember Epeiros ever doing this good either.
I think Carthage will be slowed down a lot now though, because the Epirotes are conquering Gaul at a fast pace, and have several full stacks in the area, while Carthage just has some small armies.

I hoped Carthage would expand east and attack the Ptolemaioi, but they're allies so that probably won't happen soon.
Those endless stacks of phalanxes are starting to be boring

[Tyrfingr]

Good ridance of those bloody sarmatians...

[Aaldaemon]

Good ridance of those bloody sarmatians...

No, no, no... Sarmatians are the bestest of the bestest, don't you know?

I've actually never seen them do well in any of my games... (unless I play them of course )

[General Appo]

Talking about dislocated armies. When I conquered Iberia in my Roman campaign from the carthaginians and the Lusotana, one half-stacked army (simple freed slaves and some spear leevies) of the carthaginians got sad with the loss of Gader and started to walk northwest.

I thought they were going to attack my poorly garrisoned italian cities, but it turned out that they were (in the AIs mind) to weak to attack anything so they started the long journey for Carthage (or at least carthaginian land)...on foot! Last time I checked, they had just defeated a rebel ambush just south of Sardis, got a heroic victory which made their captain a family member and they have just now passed Antioch. Meanwhile, Carthage have expanded and currently holds Egypt so they will be home soon...

Now that´s the kinda shit someone should make a novel and movie about. Especially if they get ambushed and killed one turn away from Carthaginian lands.

[Tyrfingr]

Now that´s the kinda shit someone should make a novel and movie about. Especially if they get ambushed and killed one turn away from Carthaginian lands.

Saving Private Hannibal?

[General Appo]

Perfect! Now all we need is a loyal elephant that´s with him the entire time and we´ve got ourselves a real blockbuster.

[d'Arthez]

I have had stuff like that happen twice.

One time (Romans), when the Arverni lost their last settlement in Gaul. They started the trek to Galatia. And one time when I (Hayasdan) had torn the Seleukids apart. They still had Prophtasia and Sardis. And after they lost Sardis all Seleukid units in the west started a long, long, long, trek to Prophtasia.

On the first occasion I did not have war with the Arverni, so I had no issues with this great trek. On the second occassion, it was quite a humiliating experience for the Arche, having to go by Antiocheia, Edessa, Seleukeia Ekbatana, Susa, and Gabai (too bad they did not come past Persepolis), so I preferred them to be humiliated. Once they got back, I think I took Prophtasia within the year. :D

[Atanamir]

Hayasdan, 188BC








Yeah, I got the upgraded bodyguards.
Not sure whether the March of Time caused them though, I thought only the Romani could trigger that event?
The Epirotes kicked them out of Italy a long time ago

strange I thought too....

[LordCurlyton]

Perhaps the Romani made a Huge city before their demise? That pic is 188 BC, which gives plenty of time for the Romans to make the city and still get kicked out. Even if its been 40+ years since the Epeirotes won, that is still 50 years from the start almost.

[Jurdagat]

Anyone seen a unstoppable AI Roman empire?
They have been pushed to the other side of the alps in my current Hayasdan campaign.

Regretably something wrong with my console key.
Can't toggle FOW nowdays.

[Roy1991]

Perhaps the Romani made a Huge city before their demise? That pic is 188 BC, which gives plenty of time for the Romans to make the city and still get kicked out. Even if its been 40+ years since the Epeirotes won, that is still 50 years from the start almost.

I got the upgraded bodyguards 20 years ago at most. Epeiros already controlled Italy by then.

[Tellos Athenaios]

Casse 255 BC (ordinary RTW 1.5.exe)

[The General]

Casse 255 BC (ordinary RTW 1.5.exe)

... An interesting way to do things, certainly.

Also... Is that an Arverni Galatia that I see?

[Tellos Athenaios]

Yup. I quite liked how the diplomacy went there too:

1) Pontos conquers Galatia;
2) The Royal Pontic Satrapy of Ankyra goes for the true Celtic way of life. (Joins the Arverni; a Verrix is installed)
3) Obviously war between Pontos & Arverni now
4) The Seleukids see their opportunity and offer them an alliance (the Arverni/Galatians accept)
And that's a nice trick the Seleukids played because they are and were already losing on all fronts; but when the war broke out between Pontos and Seleukeia -- the Seleukids had an 'ally' to do their dirty work. Indeed, the reason why Pontos has yet to expand beyond Mazaka (which they took only recently) is Galatian invasions/raids of Pontos itself.

[Mediolanicus]

I'm having a wierd KH campaign (will post pics soon)

Galatia is doing exactly the same thing as in Tellos' campaign.
The Seleucids are expanding and eating up Pahlava and Armenia.
The Ptolies are behaving themselves and have a solid empirein Egypt and the Levant, but are held in their eastern and nothern advance by the Seleucids. Even although they took Antiocheia, Krakiotheriablabla (sp) (South of the Caucasus) a long, long time ago.
The Saka killed Baktria and have massive indo-scythian empire, pushing into the lands of the sauro's and the seleucids.
The Averni control the whole of Gaul and Northern Spain, reducing the Aedui to an Alpine faction. They now started attack the Sweboz who have expanded as far as they could without encountering the scripted armies.
The Romans are held by a strong Alpine faction, by a strong Illyric Epeiros (put there by me) and by me in Sicily.
The Carthies had three fullstacks of Spanish elites against 1and a half stack of Lusotans. They lost. The proto-Portugese have taken east and south Iberia. Arse is the last Carthy stronghold. Numantia and Emporion are independant and the rest is Averni.
The Casse have two fullstacks but are still scared of the Scots and Irish (perhaps with reason).

[Maion Maroneios]

Here's a pic of the AI progression in my Makedon campaign (with BI1.6 .exe);

So the year is 233BC, no March of Time yet saddly, and here is a summup of all stuff that's been going on;

Makedonia (me): Unified Hellas, subdued Illyria and now conquering Anatolia with two massive full stacks with Argyraspides, Elephantes and the like. Kicking Ptolemaic as well as Pontic butt right now.

Epeiros: Having kicked them out of Hellas early, they started expanding in Italia (with my money, btw) but when I started giving mnai to the Romani, they wiped them out. That's bye bye Epeiros for some years now

Romani: Unified Italia and are now expanding into Gaul. Allied with them fearing they might attack Illyria where my precious mines are (giving them 500 mnai for 50 turns) now that I've shifted attention towards the East.

Getai: They started going on a rampage very early in the game, I even feared for my northern borders. No they have 2 full stacks waiting at Singidunum and Buridava, while doing nothing. Only thing they've done lately, is launch an unsuccessful attack at Kallatis.

Pontos: Gave them Trapezous and Anti-Kamah after seing they did nothing at all, when they started defending they territory from the Seleukidai. They even took Nikaia and Ankyra themselves, the first taken by me after they launched an unsuccessful attack upon Byzantion and the latter taken from me and given to the Arvernii. It would rebel sooner or later (the peasants where rioting) but I wanted the city to go to the losing Arvernii. They are now having they butts kicked by my Basleus

Hayasdan: Another interseting experiment through FD. I gave them Phraaspa from the Seleukidai early on, and they are now even expanding in the steppes, kicking Sauromatae butt.

Arche Seleukeia: Trully the best behavior until now by this faction, in my oppibion. They slowly started losing in all fronts, specifically in the east against the Pahlava, but they have put up an heroic struggle. Now getting their butts kicked by both the Pahlava, as well as the Ptolemaioi in Syria and Anatolia. Long being my faithful allies, I'm determined to keep them alive.

Ptolemaioi: At first they focused on Syria, losing and taking cities by and from the Seleukidai with no one gaining a upper hand. They later took some Aigyptian cities and launched an unsuccesful attack upon Aithiopia. Some years ago they build a fleet of Nees Megistai (Huge Poliremes), launched a naval invasion upon Rhodos and taking it, while wiping out my entire fleet (some Biremes ). After launching another invasion on Krete, the fleet left and I gathered some forces, taking Rhodos back in the process. They lost Kypros from me next.

Saba: Inresting progression here, no FD whatsoever, with Bostra and Palmyra rebelling to them at some point. Now at war with the Ptolemaioi, they are mosty defending their northern-most territories from the Diadochoi kingdoms.

Sweboz: That's a mega-stalemate here. They have 2 full stacks outside their capital, the city itself having another 20 or so units. No intention of moving at any time soon, it seems. Might get a diplomat there sometime and give them some needed cash

Casse: Not much to say here, guys are doing well. They arenow aiming to Caledryn.

Aedui: These guys gained the upperhand in the Gallic civil war quickly, which I successfuly balanced by giving Galatia over to the Arvernii. They now lost Viennos from the Arvernii and are probabaly going to get their butts kicked, as the Romani even took Massalia, Segesta and Patavium from them.

Arvernii: As mentioned above, they where losing first but are now getng back on their feet, with just the slightest of help from ne

Lusotana: Not doing much here, they are expanding slowly towards the east. They recently became a client kingdom of the Karthadastim, though

Qarthadastim: Lost Lilibeo some years ago, even launching an unsuccessful naval invasion to take the city back, they have taken some African provinces and shifted their capital to Ippone. They even forced the Lusotana to become a client state, so I guess they must have some good armies and lots of cash Apart from that, they have a small army near Kyrene, but aren't doing really that much. Even announced a ceasefire with the Romani.

Sauromatae: They where doing quite good, even launching some attacks at Chersonesos and Pantikapaion, until the Hai showed up. They're being owned right now

Koinon Hellenon: These guys proved utterly helpless, facing a complete onslaught early on. Upon losing Athenai and Sparte, they remained at stalemate, until I destroyed their army in Krete. I wanted to wait until they attacked Halikarnassos, but it took too long and I finally crushed Rhodos. That's good-bye Koinon Hellenon, the first faction to lie in the dirt

Baktria: The Baktrians proved very capable from the beggining. They took Marakanda, Kophen and Alexandreia-Eschate and the last years are becoming a real juggernaut. They are currently kicking Saka butt, badly.

Saka Rauka: Started quite well, losing badly now, as mentioned above, by the Baktrians.

Pahlava: Currently the most interesting progression I've ever see, no FD whatsoever. They started losing Asaak which they took early by the Seleukidai, but then they just started blitzing them. They completely destroyed the Seleukidai, reaching as far as Mesopotamia. They even recently took Sleukeia and Charax from them, shifting their capital to Hekatompylos and forcing the Sleukidai to shift theirs to Edessa. The seem pretty determined to become the next Persian Emire, it seems, though a little too soon wouldn't it seem?

[Aaldaemon]

I like the way your map looks in the western part Maion - the European part west of Byzantium. One thing I dislike about AI progression in general is easily seen in how the eastern part of the map looks - those Seleucid territories surviving deeeeeeeep behind enemy lines... Reminds me of how an EU (paradox game not European Union) map could degenerate into a madness of non contigous states.

[Mediolanicus]

KH Campaign with BI

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[General Appo]

Wow, Saka-Rauka is kicking ass. Lets hope they manage to bring down the Sele´s too.

[Hax]

Makedonia campaign. No FD (yet), BI.exe

232 BC



222 BC.



So I've been playing as Makedonia, with the plan to conquer up to the Indus valley. I'll highlight the factions for a bit.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Koinon Hellenon: Dead. Utterly dead.

Epeiros: Actually, after I conquered both Ambrakia and Epidamnos, I moved all their stacks to the Italian mainland. From there, they have been going insane. They immediately conquered Capua and Arpi, then they did Rhegion, and Roma and Ariminum shortly thereafter. So I figured the Romani were kinda in a bad situation. More on that later. As of now, they look a bit like a Sikilian faction (with Taras)

Arche Seleukeia: They are fending off against all attackers (except me), pretty good. Even though the Pahlava conquered a few of their cities, and they lost Antiocheia, they did manage to capture Hierosolyma and hold it. Since they've lost all of their main cities now (Seleukeia, Babylon, Ekbatana and Susa), I figure they won't be able to keep up much longer. And I'm waiting on the betrayal by Baktria.

Ptolemaioi: My friends. Even though we share a border, they haven't been acting in a bad way at all. They are currently pre-occupied with Carthage and the Saba'en, and I have seen nothing bad.

Baktria: Baktria has been expanding pretty good, nothing out of the ordinary. Currently fighting a bitter war against the Saka, that could pretty much go either way. We'll see how it ends.

Saka: See Baktria.

Pahlava: Instead of cutting a bloody swathe through the Seleucid lands, they've figured they should start a steppe empire. They are currently ganging up on the Sauromatae with their Hai friends.

Sauromatae:Even though they expanded pretty well in early game, they are losing a three-front war against the Getai, Hayasdan and Pahlava.

Hayasdan: Killing steppe riders. Sending a lot of spies into my lands. After I capture Charax, and notice another spy, I will march up to their mountain kingdom and kick them out of there.

Getai: As Quirinus put it, they are truly the Dwarves behind the mountains. They are kinda quiet, expanding west and north mostly. I hope they will get into a war with the Romans soon.

Romani: They were my friends at first. After I saw how horrible their state was, I bribed a Carthaginian general and made a mercenary army. From their, I started to conquer back the old Romani cities and gifted them back. However, they suddenly betrayed me about 225 BC, capturing Dalminion and laying siege to Ambrakia. However, I had a Galato-Thraike army ready on a fleet, so I quickly transported them there and a big battle for Dalminion is upcoming.

Aedui: They were first winning the war against the Arverni, but ever since the Sweboz started expanding southwards, and the Romani conquered Mediolanum they have been losing the war for Gaul. They are currently under siege in Dariatorium, so I guess it's bye-bye Aedui pretty soon.

Arverni: As they lost the war against the Aedui, and the Sweboz and Romani rushed to their aid, they took the opportunity by conquering like madmen. At one point, they controlled all of what they have now plus Massilia, Velika and Numantia. I think they'll get killed anyways by the Romani and Lusotannan.

Lusotannan: Nothing extraordinary, just expanding in Iberia -shrug-

Karthadast: Lovely expansion there. Conquering the coastal holdings of Iberia and raising naval attacks on the Italian mainland (they controlled Kapua and Segesta both at one point. We'll see what happens.

Sweboz: The mightiest faction, on the side of military. They have some 10 fullstacks running around Germania and Gallia, and I expect great things of them!

Anyways, that was my AI progression for now. I'll update again in 202 BC.

[Maion Maroneios]

Wow Hax, you're certainly conquering much faster than I am! Say, what kind of armies where you actually fielding during your Anabasis?

[Hax]

1/2 General(s).
2 Argyraspides
4 Pezhetairoi
2 Agrianikoi Pelekuphoroi/Thureophoroi
2 Thraikoi Rhomphaiaphoroi
2 Eastern Archers (sharblahrdarh or something)
2 Eastern Slingers (the same)
2 Hippeis Thessalikoi/Hetairoi
2 Prodromoi/Leuce Epos

I'll also make a screenshot of my 1337 Galato-Thraike army.

[Maion Maroneios]

Interesting, I use the exact same bulk; 2 Argyraspides and 4 Pezhetairoi

[Tyrfingr]

That´s some scary germans. They even took Noricum, impressive! I rarely see an AI do that...